With Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meeting with President Donald Trump today, the NDP continues to call for assurances that Saskatchewan’s jobs and interests will be protected in all trade and pipeline discussion and is pushing the Sask. Party to do the same.

According to the latest figures from Statistics Canada, 2017 started with close to 9000 fewer Saskatchewan people working a full-time job than just a month earlier. Compared to this time last year, the unemployment rate has risen to 7.1 per cent compared to 6.1 per cent and, despite more Saskatchewan people struggling to make ends meet with part-time jobs, there are 6,200 more Saskatchewan people looking for work than in January 2016.

“The numbers we’re seeing today show the tough reality that many families throughout the province are already facing. When you consider the Premier’s threats just days ago of more cuts and putting hundreds more mortgage-paying jobs at risk by floating the idea of selling-off the Crowns, this situation is all the more serious” said NDP Jobs, Skills, and Training Critic Warren McCall. “What the Premier and the Sask. Party have to realize and take responsibility for is that it was their mismanagement, scandal, and waste that led us all to this reality.”

After nearly a decade of Sask. Party mismanagement, scandal, and waste, the government is now threatening to force the people of Saskatchewan to pay the price for the government’s $1.2 billion deficit.

The silencing of local voices through the elimination of local school boards is a serious concern that has been raised repeatedly by municipal leaders at the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) Convention.

With more reports of an increase in suicide attempts in Black Lake, NDP Deputy Leader and Athabasca MLA Buckley Belanger is calling on the Sask. Party government to finally stop their irresponsible and callous cuts and immediately invest in mental health care.